Thursday's Child Excerpt

Book: Thursday's Child Author: Sonya Hartnett

An excerpt from my literature textbook that sharply shows the contrast of Da and Vandery Cable. If you are unfamiliar with the story, it's ok. I love this passage and wants to show you how this author marverlously uses her way with words to create a what-i-call stunning passage.In this passage, Da went off to look for Mr Cable to do justice for Devon (confrontation).



Vandary Cable's homestead was set in a garden of tangled briar-roses that had grown for four generations of Cables and that's where Da met him, amongst the flowers and black-spotted leaves, hearing in the distance the low runble and alarming shrill of the swine. Only Cable came out of the house but Da could see the station-hand loitering watchful at a window. It was dusk, and a silken wind nudged the brim of Da's hat until he took it off as Cable sauntered down the steps towards him. Then the breeze frolicked through his hair, mussing it in his eyes."Where's your heart, Mr Cable?" is what Da asked the pig farmer.

"Right here in my chest, where it's always been. Why do you want to know?"

"You own my son a week's wages."

"That's what he told you, is it?" Cable laughed open-mouthed, and Da caught a whiff of sherry and saw gold. "You should know better, Flute, than to take the word of a boy, having been one once yourself."

"I hope I've raised my children to tell the truth."

"Then Devon must have told you how I lost two good breeding sows through his sloppy workmanship. That's my reason for keeping his wages, and I'm running at a loss even doing that."

Da scraped the hair from his eyes. Cable's hair wasn't bothered by the breeze, having been oiled into a glistening cap. He smiled beneath this shell. "Don't tell me you didn't hear about those sows," he said. "Walked clear through one of Devon's baggy fences, both of them, and I haven't seen a hair of either since. Salted up in someone's ceiling by now, I'd reckon. It's a miracle I didn't lose the herd."

Da muttered,"No. I didn't hear that. I'm sorry for it, Mr Cable."

"So am I. You can understand why I had to let Devon go. I want fences that will keep the creatures in, not let them out."

"He hadn't had experience-"

"He's got the same teaching everyone gets and all anyone should need."

"As I say, I'm sorry. He's just a lad, Mr Cable, not skilful, and it's likely his attention wandered. He was hoping to buy a pony with his earnings here. He's been saving for years."

"I'm not a charity, Flute, nor is my heart the bleeding kind. I'm a landowner, a man of business. To me and men like me, poor work equals poor pay. Would you pay for a job so shabbily done that you lose two quality head of swine?"

"What I'm saying is-"

"No!" Cable barked. "Answer the question, Flute. Would you reward a man for work so shabbily done?"

Da wrung his hands in silence, buckling his hat. Cable's mouth twisted.

"Go home, Court," he said. "Don't speak about this to me again. I tried to do your family a favour and came out the worst for it, and there's some that would say I've a right to demand from you the price of those hogs, but I'm not asking. Having this conversation with you, however, is tempting me to change my mind."

Da had thanked him for his time and set his hat on his head. As he limped away down the cart path he could feel Cable's eyes tracking him all the way to the gate.

"I did everything anyone could, Thora," Da told Mam late that evening. "There was no talking sense to him. No matter what I said, he was going to sneak his way around it. He shouted me down, I couldn't get a word in edgewise. He derserved the spots knocked off him, but what could I do? Nothing, not with his man standing like a dog at the window.

So you see in this excerpt, Da had went to Cable's house full of determination to do justice for his son. However, he did not expect Cable to have stong reasons that will be at disadvantage to him (Da) and you can see that his determination is slowly draining away from him. This excerpt shows a change in character due to the situation around him.

That's all folks! - If you wanna read, it's in stores waiting for you!
kahmun